Aelfric and the cult of saints in late Anglo-Saxon England /
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| Author / Creator: | Gretsch, Mechthild. |
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| Imprint: | Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005. |
| Description: | 1 online resource (xi, 263 pages) |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England ; 34 Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England ; 34. |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | E-Resource Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11812303 |
| Summary: | The cult of saints was one of the most important aspects of life in the Middle Ages, and it often formed the nucleus of developing group identities in a town, a province or a country. The literature of Anglo-Saxon England is unique among contemporary European literatures in that it features a vast amount of saints' Lives in the vernacular. Of these Lives, Aelfric is the most important author, and his saints' Lives have never previously been explored in their contemporary setting. In this study, Gretsch analyzes Aelfric's Lives of five important saints in the light of their cults in Anglo-Saxon England. This gives the reader fascinating glimpses of 'Aelfric at work': he adapts the cults and rewrites the received Latin hagiography of the five saints, with the result that each of their English Lives conveys a distinct message to the contemporary political elite and to a lay audience at large. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xi, 263 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 248-257) and indexes. |
| ISBN: | 0511140843 9780511140846 0511140312 9780511140310 0511139543 9780511139543 9780511483349 0511483341 9780511140075 051114007X 0521855411 9780521855419 1107155371 9781107155374 1280309040 9781280309045 0511312229 9780511312229 |